Jacquie Johnston, a professional bookkeeper with more than 30 years of experience in the field shares her insights on the bookkeeping profession for those considering starting out in the industry. Jacquie is a vice-president of the Canadian Bookkeepers Association, a Simply Accounting Partner, QuickBooks Pro-Advisor and a member of the Program Advisory Committee for the Bookkeeping department at Ashton College.

Bookkeepers are trained and certified to keep track of the financial records of a business. I would say that bookkeepers are actually the architects of a small business’ financial foundation. What they do is vital to small business owners and bookkeepers often know more about how the business runs than the actual owners themselves.

Generally, bookkeepers have several tasks they are responsible for. Those include, but not limited to:

• accounts receivable and accounts payable,
• payroll,
• data entry for all transactions,
• balance sheet reconciliations (all the accounts on a balance sheet must be reconciled, including the assets and liability accounts, ie: banks, credit cards, etc…

The key to good bookkeeping is keeping track of financial records in a timely fashion, often on a monthly basis. Bookkeepers also have to produce financial statements at the end of each month and they should be able to analyse the content of those statements to the business owner.

In addition, bookkeepers are responsible for government remittances including all the goods and service (GST/HSTs) and payroll taxes. GST/HSTs can be submitted on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis, while payroll taxes are usually done on a monthly basis.

At the conclusion of a calendar year, bookkeepers also must prepare what was formerly known as a “working paper” (a descriptive term that is not used as much these days, although I’d like to bring it back). Working papers show any outstanding discrepancies from the books that weren’t get completed by the year’s end. These documents essentially form the Balance Sheet Reconciliations as well as explanations of any miscellaneous postings.

Maintaining proper, professional bookkeeping documents are extremely important as they show a business’ monthly and yearly activity and are later used by accountants to determine the amount of tax payments or refunds. In short, bookkeepers have a big responsibility in taking care of a business’ financial records.

What is the key to becoming a bookkeeper?

If you have a certificate or diploma in bookkeeping, this does not mean that you qualify as a bookkeeping professional just yet. Of course, education is an essential part of learning the profession and it deepens your knowledge and understanding of the bookkeeping world. However I strongly believe that in order to qualify as bookkeeper (not to mention starting your own business), you need to have at least 3 years of data entry/bookkeeping experience.

Interestingly, years ago the profession in Canada had a different education system in place: it had a mandatory practicum component. Anyone who wanted to have a bookkeeping job went through on-the-job training as an apprentice prior to independent practice. Unfortunately, this system doesn’t exist as a mandatory part of people’s education anymore (except in the trade professions). In my opinion, practical experience is still necessary before you can call yourself a bookkeeper.

There are several ways to get practical bookkeeping experience. The best option would be to take a bookkeeping certificate program, and then get a part or full-time job in the industry with an established company that is looking for help. I would advise working for a company for at least 3 years, which would give you enough practical experience to venture out on your own and see what you can accomplish.

There are several benefits to working with an established company, under supervision, prior to starting out as a small business owner in bookkeeping:

• You will have access to a support system or mentor, to check your work. This way, you can learn what to look out for when you do books, and become better at your job faster.
• If you were to rely on your own strength and knowledge, without the experience,, you would likely make a few costly mistakes in the beginning. Of course, you would learn from them, but there is little or no risk to learn from professionals as you go.
• It is usually the small to medium business owners who chose to have individual bookkeepers working with them. However, small businesses are very volatile – they need to establish themselves, find the right clientele, etc. And since your mistakes can be very costly to them, you really do need some experience under your belt before you venture out on your own.

What are the job opportunities for bookkeepers?

BC is a leader when it comes to small businesses: there are more small businesses here than anywhere else in Canada. In fact bookkeepers are often small business owners themselves; and they mostly work with clients who are small to medium business owners.

There was a time in BC where the concept of bookkeeping did not exist. You were more likely to be a data entry clerk in a company or organization, doing the accounts payable, accounts receivable and all the other bookkeeping tasks. However, with the growth of small businesses, bookkeeping is now a profession all its own. Today, with all the responsibilities placed on the shoulders of business owners, relying on professional bookkeepers to provide them with sound financial support is more important than ever.

Of course bookkeeping can be a difficult profession. Clients can often put unrealistic demands on your time but the experience of helping a small business grow is very rewarding. When you gain a client that trust you with their business accounts and appreciates you for doing a great job, in my view that’s the best payoff there is and it encourages me to deliver the best performance that I can. Gotta love it!